Time – What Time of Day Is It?

time

What time of day is it?

  1. It is morning.
  2. It is in the morning./In the morning.
  3. Morning.

Are they right? Which one is more commonly used?

Best Answer

1 and 3 are both correct. 2 is not.

1 is a complete, grammatically correct sentence.

3 is not a complete sentence, but in common speech and informal writing we often do not use complete sentences when the meaning is clear. This is especially true for questions. If someone asks, say, "What color shirt is Bob wearing today?", most people would answer simply "Red" (or whatever color, of course). It's not a complete sentence, but we know that you mean "Bob is wearing a red shirt today".

2 is not correct because there is nothing that is "in" the morning. If you asked, "When is the staff meeting?", then it would make sense for me to say, "The staff meeting is in the morning", or simply "In the morning." But if you ask what time of day it is, there is nothing "in" this time. It just is.